Dear Friends,
Way back in 2004, I met one of my customers in San Francisco. I was the first person to land in this particular account at SFO to transition the work to India. It was a huge responsibility for me, as account growth depended on the success of the transition to India. However, it was a phase when Offshore Development Centres began (now they are called or have transitioned into GCCs - Global Capability Centres). It was also an early recovery stage from the dot-com bust. By the end of the 2002 stock market downturn, stocks had lost $5 trillion in market capitalization since the peak. At its trough on October 9, 2002, the NASDAQ-100 had dropped to 1,114, down 78% from its peak. Hence, customers were cautious about every move.
I was tasked with building a relationship with this specific customer and ensuring a seamless transition to India. During the process, my customer raised an important concern: the team was not in a good mood to transition. There were different applications, different teams, different domains, different managers, different organizations, and many such differences in this transition process. “We are highly methodological. How will you ensure this?” he asked.
At that time, I responded with one important cultural aspect. I said, “Culturally, we are designed to handle these differences. We can manage this without much worry.” Having said that, I did not have the maturity to fully answer that question at that age. I was hardly 29 at that time.
Yesterday, we all celebrated Ugadi, the Telugu New Year. I was reminded of this question again. If we think deeply, it is true — we are well equipped to handle complexity.
We all use the Gregorian calendar (January to December) to align with global business and official work. We file taxes based on the financial year (April to March) from an Indian business perspective. Our children attend schools and colleges based on the academic calendar (June to April). We also follow the regional Hindu calendar — in our case, Ugadi — which marks the beginning of the lunisolar month of Chaitra. This typically falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar, and the date changes every year.
On this day, we begin by eating Ugadi pachadi, a unique dish that combines six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter, and astringent. It symbolically reminds us of the different phases of life that we must be prepared to experience in the coming year. In a way, it prepares us for life itself.
Diwali, especially the day of Lakshmi Puja, typically falls in October or November. It is considered auspicious and, in some traditions, even treated as a financial beginning. On this day, Indian stock exchanges conduct a special Muhurat Trading session. Interestingly, the market is often bullish during that hour. That reflects the trust people place in that muhurtham.
We also observe the solar movement calendar — Uttarayanam and Dakshinayanam — which influences agriculture and rituals. It is not just about farming or rituals; traditionally, even the timing of death is associated with these phases, with Uttarayana considered more auspicious. This reflects the deep belief systems embedded in these cycles.
It is not limited to the Hindu calendar. Muslim communities observe Ramzan fasting based on moon sighting, following their own lunar calendar.
In the midst of all this, the corporate world runs on Q1-Q4 fiscal calendars to track performance. At the same time, children follow multiple exam calendars — sometimes four in a year, sometimes two, sometimes even more — along with competitive exam schedules across different timelines.
And above all, nature follows its own calendar — the monsoon, which is seasonal and beyond human control.
If I have to summarize, we as Indians simultaneously manage multiple layers: the Global Layer, Economic Layer, Learning Layer, Cultural Layer, Spiritual Layer, Cosmic Layer, Survival Layer, and finally, the Personal Layer.
When we are prepared for such complexity in our lives, we can survive and adapt anywhere in the world.
Do you agree?
Ravi Saripalle
